


All Beauty must die

by a7xcherry



Category: 30 Seconds to Mars, Avenged Sevenfold
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:31:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3688884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a7xcherry/pseuds/a7xcherry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new psycho is frightening the people in Los Angeles. Almost randomly he picks the girls and has his own kind of fun with them before he leaves a message for the police whether in writing something with the body pieces or leaving a poetry note somewhere in her body.<br/>He is a meticulous, intelligent and mysterious guy that surely knows how to hide himself, act like a normal guy at day and becomes a psycho at night.<br/>The LAPD are helpless since they are groping in the dark for weeks. So they decide to call 5 people that are known as the best profilers in the country. A team that worked already together years ago until everyone moved to another place.</p><p>After many years Lauren and Brian decide to celebrate their engagement at the “Bru Coffeebar”, a place where they used to drink their coffee after a long day at work but the peaceful moments gets killed just a few minutes later by a call from their former boss.</p><p>After Hannah Crumber’s death a new member joins their team called Anna Richards, a young girl from Louisiana. She is not liked by everyone, but Lauren helps her to feel part of the big family.</p><p>But are they really the best? Will they stop his appetite of killing defenseless young women?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Beginning

‘My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone.’

His voice sound dark and scary as he walked in circles around the chair where he had placed the magistrate Rachel Blake, tied up bend down to his own little sick game. She was the youngest of his victims, but fitted perfectly in his pattern. Rachel was in her mid-20s, bleached long hair, nice figure and down to earth girl who was loved by everyone in town. Like most of his girls she liked to be in the center of attention, used her Instagram profile for posting a new selfie every day, whether she took it while being out with friends, in the bathroom or during her routinely morning coffee. Rachel loved her routines every day like drinking two coffees, reading the newspaper and eating a single toast with butter before going to work at 9:05am.

That Friday was anything else than her daily schedule. Something happened that wasn’t written down in her notebook, warning her for that man that dragged her to that dark, wet place. She knew who that man was, she had heard that voice already before but she couldn’t give that man a face. Rachel always had to do with people that killed a lot, raped them or even cut them to pieces. It was disgusting when she thought how sick a human being could be, that something so horrible could be even satisfying for them, just to feel the power that they could decide about someone’s life. And now she was the one that was tied up, fearing for her life.

“What do you want from me?” her voice was shaky, almost broken by the fear that she probably wouldn’t leave this place alive or in one piece.

She had a lot of particular skills to talk with psychos, trying to make them change their mind but her mind was blocked. Rachel couldn’t think straight anymore, so she forced on the voice and tried to figure it out whom it belonged to.

“I already read the book you told me long time ago. Can you remember?” he replied with his high pitched voice and underlined every word slowly.

“Which book are you talking about?”

He giggled, sounded amused by her confusion.

“Oh Mary Jane” he clicked with his tongue “You really can’t remember the book you talked about a long time ago? The one book that would make me to a real man, someone that you would agree to go out with?” he got closer, brushing through her hair carefully and played with single strands. “Your hair seems much like the lover of Cesare, Lucrecia Borgia.”

She was disgusted beneath his touch. Rachel didn’t want to feel his hand somewhere on her body, neither his warm breath.

“Who is Mary Jane?” she spoke in a tearful voice.

Did he miss her with someone else? Did she just look alike someone that he knew? Had she been at the wrong place to the wrong time? Psychos usually didn’t make sense and lived in her own world they created to protect themselves. The structure of a person with a mental illness couldn’t be compared to any other person. Whether they were gifted with intelligence or it came from a traumata. It wasn’t her job to understand that, she only had to judge about right and wrong. Everything that had to with the psyche was the job of a professional shrink.

“Miss Johnson, I’m sorry. I forgot about your rule not to call you with your first name before our first date” he strangely started to sound like a 5yrs old kid that apologized to his Mom for breaking a simple rule.

That man wasn’t making any sense and she wondered why she stuck in this game. She never heard about a Mary Jane Johnson. At least she couldn’t remember a person with that name. But there might be only one solution that would help. She had to play along with him, trying to save her life in this way. Maybe that was the only key to save her life.

“It’s all ok, but you better keep it now unless you want me to show off my other side.”

Rachel wasn’t sure what she was talking or what rule that man was talking about. Her chance might be to get some extra time to find out who the guy was that kept her at this nasty place.

“I won’t do it again. So would you like to tell me your favorite quote from that book? You better don’t try to tell me you have none since it is nearly impossible to like something from that masterpiece.”

He frightened a little bit with raising up his voice, screaming at her and sounding like someone that was almost possessed by some devil. But she wanted to play along with his game if there wouldn’t be the single problem that she doesn’t read any books unless the statute book. It was useless to find the right answer since he wouldn’t tell her the name of the book. That man still believed to talk with Mary Jane Johnson, but convincing him she was someone else wouldn’t drag her out of this place.

“Why don’t you take off that scarf and I tell you the one that surprised me the most?”

“You are lucky that it’s one of my good days.”

Finally. Something worked and she hoped that it was now just a matter of time until she could go back home and continue living her life.

“I’m waiting” he aggressively snarled through his teeth, braced his hands on the arm-rest.

“You?” she whispered, scanned that man’s face and was almost sure that it was him.

From all the person she had met so far that guy was the least she expected to see. He always had been known as a quiet guy that liked to help others and even offered himself when she moved to Los Angeles.

“Do you recognize me? The boy that you told he will love the book after reading it.”

“What have I done to you? Don’t tell me you are still mad at me since we were kids” she suppressed the tears.

 

“Kid? I’m no kid anymore” he laughed weirdly, in a way that even scared her more.

His hands covered his face while he paced around her chair.

“I had read the book I can’t be no kid anymore” he stuttered “Stop laughing! Make her fucking stop laughing!” he started to hit his forehead several times with his hands, scratched himself at different places like he couldn’t control the stress anymore and he had to punish himself for this. “Tell me you love me” he yelled, facing her with wide opened eyes that reflected his broken soul.

“I love you” she formed with her lips.

“Liar! I see in your eyes that you can’t love anyone. You only fucking love yourself, the perfect job, wonderful house and two kids.”

He totally lost his mind and grabbed the knife that he put down on the little table. As he turned around he saw how she looked at him petrified.

“If you can’t answer mine” his breath was heavy “I will tell you mine. Listen well Mary Jane. ‘It’s better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both’.”

Those were his last words before he stabbed her several times in her upper body. Her body was laced with knife thrusts. He stopped counting after the 30th time. His inner voice commanded he had to make her shut up. If she didn’t love him, no one was supposed to have her. Finally he found his inner peace again, glided with his hands over her full breasts before he took out another knife to rip off her clothes.  
Everyone was born naked, so he believed to leave the word undressed too. After that was done and the clothes were thrown into one corner, he started to cut off first her legs, arms before he finished with the head. He placed every piece carefully onto the bed, only the head was put onto the old desk.  
Before he finished his masterpiece, he wrote one single note, put it into her mouth before he stitched it.

“Good Night Mary Jane Johnson” he said, turned off the light and closed the door.

~*~

A long time had now passed until Lauren and Brian decided to catch up with the Leto brothers again. They used to work in the same team for a specific time until Thomas, their former boss at the LAPD, decided it might be better they are working for different departments. So everyone was working around the country and the last time they had seen each other face to face was at Hannah’s funeral.  
She wasn’t just one colleague. She even was one of their closest friends, someone that cared a lot for her friends and helped out through all kinds of problems. It was Hannah that played cupid for Lauren and Brian, suggested they could go out on a proper date than having those drunken hook-ups. That had been two years ago and now finally they were going to catch up at their old favourite place: Bru’s Coffeebar at the 1866 N Vermont Ave in Los Angeles.

“Finally you are here” Jared rolled with his eyes, trying to act annoyed by Brian and Lauren being late.

But he was actually quite happy seeing them all again, like his big brother that he just saw on his Laptop screen every night when they talked to each other through Skype.

“Sorry but you know it’s hard to find a good parking lot in Los Angeles, especially to the rush hour” Lauren answered with a big grin on her face and wrapped her arms around the Leto brothers.

“I don’t think you just invited us here to see us again” Shannon threw in with a big grin on his face as well.

He kind of expected something already. Since the moment they came in he saw that something had changed. Whether it was Lauren being pregnant or Brian decided to propose to her finally. Both had been a couple now for 7 years and it was just about time to make the next step.

“Well …” Lauren coughed, looking to Brian that smiled brightly and laid his arm around her shoulder.

“You both got engaged” Jared clapped in his hands, just to turn around to the bartender the next moment “I want the best champagne you have, Mister.”

“We are a coffee bar, Sir. We sell all kinds of coffee’s, hot chocolate and tea” the bartender seemed confused about the order.

“Then get one” he replied in his bitching attitude and decided to focus now on the couple again.

“Ok now I want to have details. When did he do it, how did he do it and why did it happen just now?”

“Well it happened in our last Canada trip” she chuckled when she just said the word Canada.

There was some insider joke between Brian and her and actually now one really got the idea behind, not even Lauren itself. It was during their time they first met in Toronto that he started to call her Canadian Cherry. She was actually just holding a bowl of cherries but since she liked the nick name she kept it. Lauren liked to remember that day and would never forget his brown eyes looking at her, the sparkles in his eyes and the wonderful smile on his face. People said love at first sight doesn’t exist, but Lauren had a different view on that.

“You probably remember the Rouge Park and one night we walked around before he stopped at the big oak tree, falling on his knee and asked me if I want to marry him.”

“That’s the place you first kissed” Shannon smirked, remembering exactly the moment when Lauren talked to him excitedly about the moment.

“Yes” Brian nodded approving.

“It still leaves me why didn’t you ask her earlier. It was like you keep her on the chains, make her wait for the final moment. From day one I knew you both you were going to make it and it took you that long?”

“I just waited for the right moment and I think the waiting paid it all off” he leaned to his girl to place a short soft kiss on her lips.

“Congratulations to you two anyway” Shannon sipped on his coffee.

“By the way, older brother” Jared turned to Shannon, patting on his shoulder “You really enjoyed the 3-years vacation on Hawaii, don’t you?” he winked at him, not showing him his jealous that he had been sent to Honolulu while he was ‘just’ in New York.

“Why vacation?” Lauren seemed confused.

“Since we all been sent to terrible places he was in Honolulu the whole time. Thomas might didn’t like him, but had sent him to the best place in the states” Jared snorted.

“You are a really lucky bastard” Brian agreed now as the last.

“Thanks to all of you, but instead of the crime department I had been sent to the drug squad. And I guess the people on Hawaii never seem to be in trouble much with drugs. He fucking knew that and he wanted to pay some revenge on me.”

“Well you had the shortest way of all of us. You could use all your swimming skills to make your way to sunny California.”

He couldn’t help to throw this against his older brother’s head. They always liked to tease each other, no matter if women were involved or not. Jared loved to pick on his brother, but always looked up to him. Shannon was his biggest idol but he never would admit to him. He better kept this for himself, as a little secret.

“I was just lazy and hadn’t much coffee yet that I would have been here in time” he raised his eyebrow and finished his third coffee already.

Lauren just wanted to say something as she heard her phone ringing. She got a text message and as she saw the name on her display she started to smile brightly.

“Anne is coming to Los Angeles” she declared with a happy face and showed Brian the message.

“She had been called by Thomas Robins” he added as he scrolled through the whole message.

“I feel really sorry for that girl already” Shannon shook his head and tried not to reminisce his fights with his former boss from the Los Angeles Police Department.

At one point he was really happy that he hadn’t to face that dick anymore, but at the other hand they were a really good team, managed to solve a lot of cases much faster as the rest of the LAPD.

“Be happy you don’t have to work with him any longer, brother” Jared tried to bring the peaceful moment back, because he couldn’t stand to see his brother getting mad about someone he hadn’t to deal with any longer.

“Oh no” Lauren moaned annoyed as she got another text message, but not by her friend Anne.

This time it was from Thomas Robins himself.

“He wants to see me as well.”

But not only Lauren got that message. Jared, Brian and Shannon got the same message and no one seemed to be really amused by the idea working again with Thomas.

“What’s going on?” Jared whispered to himself and put his phone back into the pocket.

“I don’t know. So we better find out” Brian tried to motivate them.

As they got up and were about to go the bartender went to Jared with a bottle of the best Champagne he could find in this short time.

“The one you asked for, Sir” he handed over a bottle of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs NV.

“Thank you” he answered with a smile and left with the rest the café, to make their way to the Los Angeles Police Department.


	2. Open Wounds

Just 10 minutes later they all arrived the LAPD headquarters office at the 100 West 1st Street Room. For more than 3 years now they haven’t seen the building from the inside and some melancholy was up in the air. It changed so much and if they hadn’t seen the sign at the door they wouldn’t have even recognized it. The kitchen changed now to a kind of lounge that allowed them to hang out after work or talk with the friends and family, when they came, but no one used these rooms as a place to relax. Also the dull dark grey turned to a bright yellow which made everything look brighter and bigger, but Lauren didn’t like the new color either. She was open for changes but she would have chosen a white. After all they were a police department and no facility that to impress anyone.   
But there was something positive about the change, she liked the all the leather furniture. Finally she would be working without any back problems and could concentrate more on the cases instead of getting rid of that ugly pain.  
They were guided by the only police man they knew from their days at this department. Anyone else was sent to another place, got fired or retired. Thomas must had done a pretty good job for creating a completely new team.

“The boss is in a meeting right now but he will come as soon as possible. But let me tell you, I’m happy to see everyone again” the police man left smiling the room.

“I always liked Charles. He’s a good man” Brian looked to everyone and saw them nodding to his statement. 

Charles wasn’t just one simple colleague for them. It was like a second dad when they all started here, bloody young and needed someone that helped them out in different situations. He had seen them grow up and become to some of the best profilers in the Californian state.   
So everyone sat down, grabbed the tablets on the table, except Brian who preferred using his own notebook to write down his notes. But he noticed his girlfriend keep checking her phone, seeing if her friend Anne might already replied to her text message. 

“There’s still no news about her?” Brian caressed her hand.

“No” she shook her head “I fear she might be lost in that huge town. You know she’s from a small town in Louisiana. She never had been in Los Angeles” Lauren said while writing already the second text message. 

“I think we already can start without her. So what case is so urgent that they decided to call each one of us? I’m just wondering what’s so important since Thomas once said we are just a bunch of idiots that aren’t made for this job” he breathed heavily. 

That has been Thomas, their former boss, explanation before sending each one of them to a different place, even separating from his younger brother. Everyone knew that they were doing a good job, solved crime cases much faster as the rest and they worked great with each other as a team.   
But especially Shannon had his problems with the boss, always got in trouble with him and there has been no day when they weren’t arguing about something. He never could stand people that pretended they were the kings just because they could call themselves ‘boss’ because they got all the honor from the press. They were doing the work out there, they could get in trouble easily while Thomas was in his office, drinking coffee and eating tons of donuts.   
Although he should have been happy not facing that moron every day again, he was sad that he had been so far away from his friends and just got the opportunity to see them on his Laptop screen. 

“Well I just received a few information yet like a couple of pictures. Let me show you guys” she turned on the viewer.

The first picture that came up were thoroughly cut female bodies that lied in rank and file. 

“Los Angeles seems to be famous for psychos like that” Jared mumbled, almost staring at the pic and trying to get the idea what people brought to something like this. “What do you know about these women? Is there any connection?” Jared tried to focus only on the work now.

He was no psychologist that had to find out the meaning of the grizzly homicide. Jared might be a profiler, characterizing the man behind this and the rest were other people responsible. But within the group he was called the ‘boss’, someone that love to command his people and always ready to start working.

“Magistrate Rachel Black is 26 years old girl, not married, neither she had kids. From all the photos on her social networks, no matter if it is Facebook, Twitter or Instagram she loves to post a lot of selfies, taking photos of almost every step of her life.”

“It’s a bit strange for a magistrate taking such pics of herself. Shouldn’t she know that this could be quite dangerous? She has to deal with psychos like this every day” Shannon scrolled through the pictures of her social networks. 

“Though she is just a normal girl like everyone. Someone that went to the gym every day at the same hour. After all she had a really tight schedule if you scroll to all of her pics” Jared added and seemed a bit fascinated by her beauty.

“She must had enemies and today it’s pretty easy to get a few haters through social networks. Internet bullying is quite common but since she had to do with a lot of criminals and psychos I would exclude that from our list as well” Lauren declared. 

“Can you zoom to her mouth please, babe” Brian narrowed his eyes to slits. 

“Of course” she answered with a smile. 

By one click she zoomed right to the last girl’s mouth. The other girl’s mouth were stitched, but not Rachel’s mouth and now everyone could see a note lying right into her mouth. 

“I see that in our police file that they found a note inside. ‘It’s better to be feared than loved …” Jared got interrupted by another young girl.

“… if you cannot be both’ by Nicolo Machiavelli. Nice choice” she finished the quote. 

Lauren recognized the voice and as she turned around she saw Anna Richards standing at the door along with her two large suitcases. She couldn’t help herself as getting up and wrapping her arms around her friend she hadn’t seen for a long time already. Both knew each other from a case that they worked along with each other when Lauren and Brian still lived in Bossier City. That’s how they met each other and became friends instantly. They soon realized that they had a lot in common and felt like two sisters separated at the birth. 

“I thought you were lost or something. I really missed you” Lauren was still overwhelmed by seeing one of her best friends finally again. 

“I missed you too sweetheart. But I really know I won’t use high heels anymore, especially when I might be late. I was pretty lucky that I was able to find a taxi driver so fast. It’s quite hard to get one. Whether they are already taken or there’s no one close” she snorted amused “Even he seemed to be a lovely driver he almost missed the actual address I gave him. So I had to walk around 300 meters until I finally get here.”

“That’s our new colleague I see, a very late one as well” Jared looked up from his tablet, scanned her for a minute until he focused back to his work. 

He wasn’t amused about people being late, especially when they were new and tried to find their part in his team first. 

“Take it easy little brother. She’s new. So give that girl some time to settle down a little bit” he patted his brother shoulder and got up “Hi I’m Shannon and that grumpy guy next to me is my brother Jared. The guy over there is Brian.”

“We already know each other, Shannon” Brian reached his hand over to Anna.

“And I’m Anna as you know now” she said to everyone in the room, but her eyes were focused on Shannon.

“Do you need some help with your bags later or maybe a place to stay?” he flirted since he couldn’t resist young good looking women.

They had been interrupted from someone slamming the door open and saw an older man with grey hair, heavyset body type and two donuts in each hand. 

“Save your charm for later, Mr. Leto” Thomas said. “Oh Miss Richards, apparently you already found your team. Have a seat and you Mr. Leto, you come with me” he pointed at Shannon.

Shannon’s face got colder the second he saw is antagonist, someone he rather see to rot in hell as him giving stupid commands. Mr. Robins closed the door as soon as Shannon left the conference room.

“Listen me, Mr. Leto. It doesn’t mean you guys have extra privilege since you are working on an important case. It wasn’t my idea. The order came from someone higher and I just had to follow it. My eyes are focused on every step you guys do and as soon as I see you guys make a mistake I send the place you come from. Did you hear me?”

“I don’t give a shit what you have to say. I’m here to solve a case along with the best people. That’s all. And you should know that you don’t scare me anymore. You won’t make your hands dirty anyway. It’s just to get all the fame again. You piss me off and one day I’m going to prove everyone it’s your fault that Hannah died.”

So he finished his speech and went back into the conference room, to sit down next to Anna. His boss followed him, coughed once and then ordered Lauren to continue. 

“Rachel Blake was found this morning close in a dark silo in Lakewood. She was the third body that was found mutilated. Like the other women she was in her mid-20-ish, long curly blonde hair and light colored eyes …”

“A true renascence girl” Brian interrupted her.

“Yes” she said nodding confused “Those girls were kidnapped in an interval of one week and killed on the same day. All three shown signs of intercourse and abuse, but only two had been found with their vagina and mouth stitched.”

“So do you think he had been interrupted at his third case?” Shannon crossed his arms.

“Maybe or he just changed his pattern” Jared threw in, focused with his eyes still on all the police files.

“No serial killer changes his pattern for a reason. Whether he had been interrupted …” Brian concluded before he got interrupted by his fiancée Lauren.

“Or he just lost control over himself. According to some reports from the past there had been a lot of serial killers that lost their control some time. Maybe she made him angry with something or as Shannon said, maybe he got interrupted. We still have no evidence of any our proofs yet but that’s just a matter of time. But as the police files say, there’s no connection between all three ladies except the fact they lived in Los Angeles. The first one is the business manager Ivana Russell. A girl that lived in her own little world, read a lot of books, never joined any groups and had only 3 best friends. Friends and family described her as introverted woman. Our second victim lawyer Joana Ferguson is actually quite the opposite. She loved to go to parties, had quite an active sex life until she got married to Christopher Farrell. Before she had been kidnapped and killed she decided to retire from her job to focus on her two little kids. Both are in the age of 5. I don’t know if he just followed a specific look or if he knew our victims quite closer” Lauren finished her report.

“Maybe the killer hates women in general, but then it’s strange he picks on only blonde girls. Or he seeks for revenge. Though it’s all not fitting really yet” Jared was anxious about the fact that the first team did such lousy job. 

“Could it be possible that he is fascinated by a character of some book? The last girl had a message inside her mouth of a well-known renascence writer. Call me a geek maybe, but all of this women looked quite similar to the lover of the main character of this book. As Anne said already, that quote is by Nicolo Machiavelli, the writer of “The Prince”. A book that talks about one of the most feared guys to this time, Cesare Borgia. A fearless man that loved his power and done everything to never lose it. Lucrecia, his own sister and lover, looks a lot like Rachel Blake. Maybe he has some sick fascination” Brian made his statement and just earned perplexed faces. 

He always had been called the ‘smarty pants’ of the group, bringing a lot things to the point and had a lot of knowledge. No one really knew if he was just bluffing or if he actually knew all of that stuff. 

“Did all of them had the same message?” Brian broke the silence.

“No. The first one was by Petrarch and the second one by Shakespeare” Thomas read from his tablet. 

“All from the renascence” Anna whispered to herself but hearable for everyone around the table “But maybe their stitched mouths and vaginas should stand for a kind of punishment. It’s usual that homeboys do that kind of stuff when their girl betrayed them with someone else.”

“But then they usually kill the other guy too and we don’t have any homicides about some men. At least we haven’t been reported about one, Mrs. Richards” Thomas said in his arrogant way.

“Then at least it is a feeling of protecting of the women innocence and keep them pure for the wedding, as it was quite common through the renascence. The sex wasn’t standing for fun through that time, it only had one reason: to procreate” Anna snipped back and felt she won that little round against that bastard.

She wasn’t here for half an hour and she already hated that man. If he was their boss then he really should cooperate a bit more than denying every single try they did to find the murderer. 

“So I believe our person we are looking for is addict to that era or at least he reads a lot about that. I can’t call many people know Machiavelli. At least no one that isn’t focused to the renascence. But why do we keep saying it’s a guy? It could be a girl too, someone that feels like an ugly duck maybe and that just wanted to owe something like those three girls: Beauty, Power and Money. I’d recommend we are looking for literature and history students from the last 10 ears maybe. By the way how is the media dealing already with the situation?” Anna looked to Thomas since he was responsible for that.

She choose to act more dominate, underline her position with a bit more power. Anna wasn’t supposed to make a coffee or do all the assistance work. She was part of the crime squad and no one could command her around like people used to do this in Louisiana. 

“The local media already gave him a name called ‘The Renascence Bloody Knight’. That’s all they know so far. They are still waiting for your word Mrs. Richards” he gave Lauren the sign to hand everyone a copy of the last magazine reports.

“They are literally feeding his ego” Shannon threw his head back, ran with his hands through his black hair. 

“Maybe we should make a statement now, trying to stop when we say that we know exactly who he is” Anna stood up as she was sick of just sitting here and knowing there was a killer outsider that reached a new level of his sick ego that gave him just more reasons to kill.

“No it can wait” Thomas interrupted her again, loudly with a strong voice “First you guys create that profile and then we go to the media. You know I’m not the biggest fan of this group and I have no problem in admitting it, but I was forced to call every single of you if I don’t want to lose my job. But listen now carefully because I just say it once, this time you will do it my way! I control everything. And if I just see one of you breaking that rule I send you back where you came from” his voice got quieter “Jared and Brian, you are going to talk with the pathologist. Shannon and Anna, you are talking with friends and family of our last victim: Rachel Blake. Lauren, you know what to do. Go to your computer and do whatever you have to do” he waved with his hands and leaves the office. 

“That’s what I call nice manners” Anna got up to get a glass of water.

“Why did we even accepted working with that bastard again?” Shannon kicked against closest trash can he could find. “He will turn our lives to hell.”

“Groups are no solution either and he fucking knows that. We work better as a team. And I don’t think we have anyone here understanding something about literature. So we could hire someone that does a good translation” Jared got up now as well, pulling his brother away from the trash can. 

“He wants to destroy us. He knows we are good and he tries to prove his theory we are all just a bunch of idiots” Lauren said while getting all the paper from the table to put it back into the big file. 

“I’m happy to work again with you guys, no matter we have to deal with that idiot again or not. And that’s why I hope you like this team Anna” he looked to his girl that was about to leave the room. “And you don’t go anywhere, sweetheart.”

“Why? But he said?” she stuttered, looked at him a bit confused.

“I will stay here and work along with you. Sorry Jared” he winked over to the big guy that just shrugged to his decision.

“I can do that alone too” he answered with a smile.

Shannon and Anna were the last ones that left the office and he guided her to his dark blue Ford Mondeo that he parked close to the building.

“You don’t really seem really good with Thomas. None of you but after seeing him this way I’m not actually surprised. I couldn’t deal with such an idiot for a week and you all did that over years. My respect.”

“That takes some time to explain everything. Something actually happened years ago that I can’t forgive him and just look for the best evidence to prove my theory. Take a seat and I tell you my story, gorgeous” he winked at her.


	3. Defining the Evil

“I try to short things a bit. Well my brother, Lauren, Brian, Hannah and me were called the best team in the country. One colleague and the press gave us the name because we solved every crime twice faster as most of the police officers here. I love the team and we became good friends in no time, always had been there for each other like a big family. But Thomas couldn’t really deal with it and tried to destroy us. In particular he liked to pick on me, provoking me and judged every single thing I did. Short we never became friends, especially after what he did. I will never forgive him for this” his hands clutched around the wheel.

“What happened?” Anne looked at him, excited to hear about all the story from the past.

She heard already a few things from Lauren, but she was curious what was behind their hate against Thomas.

“It all happened in our last case” he breathed heavily “There was a guy that already killed 4 prostitutes all with the same characteristics, long brown curly hair and curvy girl. A religious fanatic that persuaded them to go to a motel, offered them twice they asked for and as soon as they reached the room, he knocked them out before he raped them before he cut their neck. And we found on every death body the tattoo ‘God forgive you now’. Before he left the room he threw holy water all over them, in case their soul can go to heaven now. We worked on that case for more than two weeks while that man was still out there, killing one by one. Well, Thomas talked then to Hannah, almost forced her to work undercover. He thought that would get us to new results, bring us closer to the murderer but instead …” his voice cracked a little bit when he started to think on that day back when he hasn’t only lost one friend, but also one girl that meant more to him. “She showed all the characteristics that the murderer picked for his girls” he brushed one single tear from his cheek and started to concentrate on the traffic again.

“Oh don’t tell me she …” Anna was shocked.

“When I reached the hotel room it was already too late. We tried to rescue her but after two days she died in the hospital. I wished I could have stopped her.”

“I’m so sorry” she patted his shoulder and felt so helpless that she could just sit next to him and couldn’t stop his pain.

“Thomas was a big asshole that day. He was the big hero of everyone and gave a lot of press interviews saying that he is sorry for the death of Hannah but he couldn’t stop her. He told everyone that it was her actual idea, even after he warned her of the danger. The minute I heard that I punched him to the ground and if Jared wouldn’t have stopped me he wouldn’t be alive anymore. We caught the murderer that day but we also a lost great friend and colleague. It all ended up that I was suspended for a few days and Thomas sent us to a different places all around the United States as a kind of punishment.”

“What a fucking bastard” Anna was disgusted by all of that. She expected him to be an asshole, acting like the biggest prick on earth but never thought he would accuse everyone for his own misery.

“That’s why I started my own investigation. Since 3 years now I’m working on the case to prove he is responsible for some cases where people died unexpected. It’s just a feeling and I still need the evidence to prove my theory, but one day I will see him sitting at the court, waiting for the moment the jury will find him guilty.”

“And you will” a little smile appeared on Anna’s face. “But let me ask you, that girl, Hannah, she was a really special lady for you right?”

Anna was a natural curious lady that had no shame to ask people out about everything. One reason people liked to use her for the questioning for the offender. She kept asking so long until they confessed. 

“Yes. She was one girl that I could have imaged to have kids with. I loved her and on that day I had planned one special night. I wanted to invite her to her favorite restaurant, walk all the way home before I would tell her what I feel for her. That bastard took the chance away from me.”

“I think she knows it and is watching you right now” Anna tried to cheer him up, even she had no idea if that was actually working. 

Shannon was a sweet guy, seemed caring for his friends and a person that was just hiding his soft side behind a mask. She felt that there was a good person behind that shell, a man that just wanted to be loved and taken seriously. 

“For one second I thought it’s Hannah that comes into the conference room, spreading her serenity and joy of life” he chuckled a little at his comment “I just want to say you remind me a lot of her. The same gorgeous smile, the blue eyes and the same attitude.”

“I take that as a compliment” Anna leaned over to him to place a kiss on his cheek before both got out of the car. 

~*~

Two hours had passed and Brian still analyzed all of the notes over and over again. He was frustrated that he still didn’t come to one result.

“I’m tired of this” his hands covered his eyes. “All the writers have nothing in common. Shakespeare and Petrarch wrote about women, different ways maybe the same theme, but not Machiavelli! I can’t come up why he choose those three writers. Why them?” he almost screamed out loud.

“Maybe he is just one fanatic fan of them and tries to bring out his sadistic way in quoting one of them. We never will think like one of those psychos” she added without even taking her eyes from the laptop.

“But there must be a connection. I feel that but I can’t come up with anything yet. Why was he only choosing writers? There were a lot of great painters to that time. Just take Da Vinci as an example, or Michelangelo or Masaccio. There is a key behind that but I haven’t found the right lock yet” he started to bite on fingernails that he always did when he felt nervous.

Brian stood up and walked around the table multiple times, always focused on the table that was covered with all his notes he made the last two hours. He hoped to find the answer when he kept moving while his brain did all the rest.

“What a bunch of idiots” Lauren sit back.

“Who are you calling idiots right now?” Brian was confused, but moved closer to her Laptop.

“I found something and it seems a few people haven’t done their job right” she started to enter a few words before Brian saw what his fiancé was talking about. “The people that first investigated the girls probably have missed a few details, maybe really important ones. I suppose they compared all the women profiles from the last 5 years, but when we go 8 years back we see that they all went to the same university.”

“University of California, Los Angeles. Thomas was wrong then” he doesn’t seem surprised about the fact though.

“Does that surprise us still? I lost the counting of the times he was wrong. I’m not even sure why he is still the boss around here. But back to the business, babe. Rachel and Joana attended both the school of Law while Ivana was at the school of management. I read that Rachel was also a quite popular girl at school, she was the cheerleader of the university sports team and a member of a fraternity. Joana was playing for the volleyball team until she had a lesion on her knee and she had to quit it. Well and for Ivana she was just a girl with the best grades. It’s unbelievable what lousy people work here and call themselves great. You just need to type in their names and you find all the articles I just showed you.”

“Babe, you’ve got more for me right?” he looked excited.

“Well maybe not much and I’m not sure if that is actually helping” she hummed “But all three visited for one year the literature course that was lead by Michael Jason.”

“That’s interesting really. Maybe that Michael Jason is a great help” he wrote down his name onto one of his notes before he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s neck. “What if we just have a little break?” he kissed softly her cheek.

“You are really tempting, do you know that right?” she turned her head around to look straight into his brown eyes before she started to kiss him. 

Brian pulled her out of the chair and pressed her against the table, hungry for a little bit more. He knew no one would come in for some minutes and he finally could use that quality time to fulfill one other dream. His hand glided under her shirt but she stopped him for a minute.

“Do you really want to do this now?” Lauren looked straight at him.

“Sorry I really don’t want to force you” he stepped back but Lauren pulled him back to her.

“It’s not about that, but we aren’t alone here and I don’t like that Thomas comes in and interrupts us. You know I want a baby, but I don’t think the work wouldn’t be a good place really.”

“It will be like a dream coming true” he caressed her belly.

“Yeah” she whispered “I would love to stay here and see our son or girl to grow up here.”

“It seems a cool city, if you don’t look at all the psychos we have to deal with every day. But maybe we can think of the possibility of moving to a town close by.”

“By the way I think I will take half the day off to go shopping with Anna. I saw a great wedding dress store. It’s about time to choose the perfect dress for that great day” she smiled brightly and still couldn’t believe she finally was engaged to the man she loves for such a long time. 

“And you really prefer her to your future husband? I would give everything to see you in along white dress” he pulled her closer to a long passionate kiss.

“But that brings bad luck to the groom seeing his wife dress before the ceremony.”

“Since when do you care about that? I’m actually very lucky in picking the right girl as my future wife and mother of my kids. But if you don’t want to be with me, then I just drink a beer with the guys, maybe going to a strip club …” he hold his hands before his face to avoid being slapped for his comment.

“Hello?” she giggled, slapped his shoulder and acted she would be upset about the idea his man would prefer anyone to her.

“I was just joking” he laughed. “No honestly, you don’t even need to be scared that I would pick anyone before you. You’re the true love of my life and there’s no one else. You are going to have fun with her, ok?” 

She nodded only before she placed again her lips onto his lips, deepened it passionately kiss until they were suddenly interrupted by someone coming in.

“I probably came in the wrong time” Jared giggled amused when he saw the love birds kissing “I have some news for you, but where’s my brother and the late girl?” he looked around.

“First of all her name is Anna” Lauren rolled with her eyes “And then we thought they were already with you since it shouldn’t take long to talk with the friends and family.”

“Then I try to call him” Jared pulled out his phone, dialed his number and waited for the call connected signal. “His mobile seemed to be off” he seemed nervous, walking up and down in the room.

“Maybe his battery is low” Brian shrugged, not understanding why he was making such a fuss about it “What does it matter anyway?”

“Have you ever looked at …” he looked to Lauren “Anna. Don’t you think she looks much alike Hannah? You know he can be charming and flirting with the girls around him” Jared looked around since he saw someone coming in.

“Were you all talking about me?” he winked into the round, put on a big smile and wrapped his arm around Anna.

“We were just wondering where the heck you were. You know we have a fucking tight schedule and the boss is waiting for our profile” he snorted and pointed to the chairs.

“We did what he asked us to do. We talked with the families and friends and when we went to the office we stopped only for one coffee. You really should try one too” he raised his cup before he sat down on the chair, right next to Anna. 

“Let’s move on. So if no one bothers I would like to start then. As you know I talked with Dr. Sheldon in the pathology and he told me that Rachel had been stabbed multiple times before the murderer cut off in single pieces, like the other girls. No stab has been deathly since he stabbed only legs, arms and once in the belly. So she died far later, probably when he cut off her second arm” Jared declaimed.

“I think the killer is a man. I found at one file that the body was carried to the place we found. That means he had killed her probably somewhere else before he dragged them to another place. Rachel and Joana might be lightweight, but Ivana had a few kilos too much” Lauren declared, looking to Anna.

“And it’s already proven it was a man” she winked and gave Shannon a sign to go on.

“That’s right” he nipped on his coffee one last time before he stood up to report them about the latest news “We talked a bit with the family when they suddenly talked about a video from a security camera. I made a few prints from different angles and as you see a man dressed in black and the white van.”

“But since everything happens so fast we couldn’t see the registration plate. Maybe we find a better quality of the video or we just focus on the man who is probably 5ft7 tall. Or we are pretty lucky and the other places had security cameras as well” Anna added and reached the prints to Lauren. 

“I think I know some way. If you can bring me the video I will slow it down a bit and we find the registration plate and boom we are closer to the murderer than he might think” Lauren put on some winning smile.

“Although the van could be stolen or borrowed from a friend. I don’t think our murderer is that dumb to be so careless with his identity” Jared hated to ruin the motivation of his colleagues, but he tried to be realistic. 

“Sweetheart, can you show them what you had found out today?” Brian reminded his girlfriend.

“Oh right” she said, typed in the website of the college to show everyone on the big monitor on the wall. 

“UCLA?” Shannon wondered “Why are you showing us this? I think we all suffered enough.”

“That’s not for you, silly” she shook her head “Let’s say the first team did a bad job and missed that all three girls went to the same college, even at the same time. And something that could be also interesting is that all attended a literature course leaded by Michael Jason, a professor that is liked by a lot of girls and there are a few trying to get him into their bed.”

“Well he doesn’t look bad indeed” Anna winked at Lauren, who answered this with a smile. “I know that Thomas is an asshole, Shannon told me a few stories, but I wonder why the people here did such a bad research. You just needed two hours to find that out and maybe all link it back to the Literature course everyone attended for one year.”

“Let me say they all like to rush here. No one is interested to the details. They rather like drinking coffees and eating donuts, you know. That’s why we started from the beginning and analyzing everything again. You better don’t trust much guys here, gorgeous” Shannon touched her hand slightly while talking and couldn’t hide one big smile appearing on his face.

“Another thing guys that might be very important. Doctor Sheldon told me …” he got interrupted by the power breakdown. “C’mon! Who the fuck interrupts me this time?”

All lights went out and everyone was quiet for a moment until a short message appeared on the big monitor on the screen. 

‘Those who’ll play with cats must expect to be scratched’

One second later the phone started to ring.


	4. Doing Time

It kept ringing twice until Jared finally answered the phone. Everyone kept looking at each other while Jared’s hand was shivering.

“Los Angeles Police Department. Who’s speaking?” his voice was shaky.

He usually wasn’t a guy that wasn’t afraid of things like that. Jared went through worse parts already and none could scare him by turning off the lights, sending a cryptic message and then calling him on the phone. 

“You shouldn’t bother about my name, but there are people calling me the bloody Knight” a dark blurred voice came from the speaker.

He swallowed hard, his eyes got wider and he probably didn’t had to say a word to the others to let them know who was right now talking to him.

“How do you even got my number? What do you fucking want?” he muttered.

“You should already know I’m not a really dumb guy. I have some knowledge that you guys all dream of. I got particular skills over the years and I’m just showing it off right now. I press a few numbers and I can control whole Los Angeles if I even want to. But that isn’t the reason why I’m calling you.”

Jared wrote a few words on a single paper and reached it over to Lauren. She didn’t waste any time and started her Laptop to try to track down the caller. It was simple for Lauren to tell within some minutes where the caller came from. Some people despair already at that task, but she just opened a simple program that she wrote by herself and had the caller’s exact location. 

“What do you want then?” he put on the loudspeaker that everyone could follow the talk.

“You seem to be in the office. That’s really good” he faked an evil laugh “I want you to open your mails.”

“What will I find there?”

After all the time they worked at the LAPD or at the NYPD, in his case, he never talked with the psycho itself, at least not before they knew his name. By the quality he could tell that this wasn’t his actual voice they were hearing. Probably he used some program to blur his voice. Someone that could easily hack into the system of the Police Department was able to do everything possible. He even was afraid of opening his mail because he absolutely had no idea what he would find in there. 

“Why don’t you find out by yourself, Mr Leto? Or are you really afraid? Time is ticking.”

Reluctant he did as he was asked to. He was taking Brian’s laptop and opened his mail account. After a few clicks he could see an email by an anonymous sender. Shannon just nodded to his brother and he opened the mail where he found just one simple link to a website.

“Where does the link lead me to?”

“To my own little world. Why don’t you pay it a visit? I think you will like it!” 

He looked at Lauren to find out how far she got with the tracker information. No sign. She nodded with a sad face and that was absolutely no good sign. Although he got up to see everything with his own eyes and she was right. The tracker was jumping to different locations every five seconds. Jared hadn’t enough knowledge to explain why that was happening, but it seems the psycho was a computer science genius as well. 

“We’re all waiting already.”

He heard how he smiled through every single word he said. That man seemed to enjoy his sick show and now he even got a personal invitation. But he had no other choice than following it. But something about the ‘we’re waiting for you’ scared him.   
Slowly he typed in the address that a guy sent to him, waited for some seconds until he saw a green screen like a camera was filming from a dark room. 

“Can you see something, Mr. Leto?” he asked, but already knew the answer.

“Yes. What’s that? Is that a kind of hint of your current location?”

“No, but let’s play a game, shall we?”

Within a second two buttons appeared on the screen. Burned alive or Drowned. What kind of game was this? What did he mean by those two really scaring deaths? At the ranking of the most fearful deaths those two belonged to the top three answers. 

“I play a little game with you and some other random people. I picked a person and two manner of deaths. Since I don’t want you to pick all alone I allow the people to vote. Isn’t it so popular now that people can vote over something? And let’s make a bet. If one of those reaches 100 votes within 10 minutes you will see the lovely lady die over there” the camera panned to the lady lying tied up on the bed.

“And what is going to happen when nothing of them gets 100 votes?” Jared dared to ask.

“Then the lady will leave this place alive. Promise. So the clock is ticking now.”

He hung up and that minute people were allowed to vote and he already saw the numbers increasing, slowly but 10 minutes could feel like an eternity.

“What is that man doing now?” Shannon lost control of his temper. 

“He’s playing with us like puppets, brother” he shook his head, focused with his eyes on the screen.

“Isn’t it possible to track down the IP through this website?” Anna begged Lauren, who already tried her best to stop this madness. 

She typed away on the keyboard, looking for solutions and ways to stop everything. If she can’t track down the location from the website, maybe it was possible that people couldn’t vote anymore. As the caller had promised he wouldn’t kill the person when he doesn’t get 100 votes. 

“Shouldn’t we call Thomas now at least? I know he is an asshole but maybe he knows what to do” Anne threw in, hoping anyone would agree with her in this case.

“I know that you want to help and suggest everything possible, but there’s no way he will help us, gorgeous” Shannon looked at her with a sad face. “The minute he comes in he will say that we are bunch of idiots that can’t track that man down or do simple work. He beefs around a lot of times and I’m sick of hearing it. So we do it in our own way.”

“Nothing I can do people. I could call the people from the FBI. They have a lot more skills than me but right now I’m useless.”

“I wouldn’t recommend to call them” Brian snorted and started to watch the screen now as well.

7min 55 seconds. 7min 54 seconds. 7min 53seconds.  
Burned alive: 21 votes. Drowned: 18 votes. 

“Why?” Anna was stunned.

“Because they are the worst of them all. FBI agents are the most arrogant people on this earth. They might have some better technology but there is some war between the LAPD and the FBI” Brian explained.

“Keep that thought away. We could help a young woman that will be burned alive or drowned in some minutes if we don’t do anything. Can you all watch that?” Anna screamed of anger.

“We can’t do anything. You’ve heard him” Jared buried his face in his hands. 

“That’s his sick world. We only can hope people won’t vote for someone’s death!” Lauren was disgusted by the thought that he used that psychology trick on the people.

“But why is he adding the voting part? Why doesn’t he just say I kill her that way? The result would pretty much the same” Anna sat down again, leaned against Shannon shoulder to look for some comfort.

“It’s an old psychology trick. People like to have the power over something. So in this scenario they are allowed to choose over a person’s life. Whether she is burned alive or drowned. I don’t think people are thinking much further that this could be real but look at today’s program. You can vote about almost everything and that’s what people love. If you want, they are the master of the puppet like we actually are. We are part of the game and doomed to watch and see what happens. It’s the idea of possess the power once and that’s why they do it” Brian explained as much as he could without losing track on the screen.

4min 33 seconds. 4min 32 seconds. 4min 31 seconds.  
Burned alive: 48 votes. Drowned: 56 votes.

“That’s sick! But why is he now doing this via livestream?” Shannon wondered, wrapped his arm around Anna to pull her closer to him.

“To gain some more power. I guess he goes online now worldwide to get an audience for his sick shows” Jared said. “There’s something that fascinates him people watching him. Maybe it even turns him on, who knows” he shrugs in despair. 

“Though he changed his way completely. From the secret murderer that raps the girl before slicing her into pieces he goes online with his show, allowing the people to vote” Shannon replied.

“Is it possible that he used any trick on that babe? Is he may be the guy that does all the voting?” Brian walks to his girl to place his hands on her shoulder.

“No! It’s nearly impossible. Every computer just can vote once unless he has 100 of computers around him to do the voting” Lauren kept on trying some last tricks but it was helpless. She couldn’t stop the guy’s madness game.

2min 25 seconds. 2min 24 seconds. 2min 23 seconds.   
Burned alive: 75 votes. Drowned: 82 votes.

“Can you actually record that?” Jared looked at Lauren who was sitting on the other end of the table.

“What do you think I’m already doing, boss?” she winked at him “But I still can’t believe he is so cruel to do this to this innocent lady. Does anyone already know who she is?”

“No” Brian shook his head “But from the quality of the video I can’t even tell you if her hair is blonde like our other three victims. 

Just that minute Thomas stormed into the room, seeing his team sitting and standing around the table watching at two small screens. He still wasn’t informed about the current situation but seeing his team doing absolutely nothing was no satisfaction. 

“I already informed a technician to look at the junction box. It needs to take some more minutes before we will have light and power again. But why are you sitting around like lazy bastards?”

“What shall we do? Are we supposed to work in the dark?” Shannon shouted back. 

“What are you even watching?” Thomas went to Jared looking at his small screen. “What is that crap?”

“It’s sending live from somewhere on the world I guess. We got a call from the murderer who invited us to this. And now he is doing a supposed to be live show where people are allowed to vote for a girl’s death. If it reach 100 hits for one of that he wins. If not the girl can go back home, scared to her bones for a long time” Jared tried to sum this story up in a short version.

“And why don’t you do anything to make that stop? Mrs. Thomas you aren’t paid for sitting around” he screams at her.

“Calm down! We already tried that” Brian put his hand on his shoulder hoping it would calm him down a little bit.

If he couldn’t stand one thing then it was screaming at his girl for no reason. In his opinion she did a brilliant job and got paid too less for the responsibility she had. 

“Guys” Jared screamed and begged everyone to gather around his laptop.

10 seconds. 9 seconds. 8 seconds.  
Burned alive: 97 votes. Drowned: 95 votes. 

“This actually can work” Jared fold his hands to send a prayer to God.

Maybe destiny still existed on this hopeless situation and there was a possibility that they can win. 

3 seconds. 2 seconds. 1 seconds.   
Burned alive: 100 votes. Drowned: 99 votes.

It was lost. The wheels of fate decided the destiny of the young girl that seemed to scream. Luckily there was no audio for this video, which was giving a little benefit to the already cruel situation. All eyes were magnetized on the computer screen waiting what was about to happen now.   
They know that the mysterious evil would keep his word and broadcast the execution around the world with probably a tons of people that couldn’t wait that the show finally begins. 

“Maybe he is scared now and changed his mind” Shannon hoped he was right this time, but it seems almost impossible. 

He waited for any movements, maybe a sign that the murder turns up and makes himself visible in front of the camera, even when he just showed his hands. At least that would help them in finding that bastard and putting in a single dark prison cell where he could rot for the rest of his life.

“I would really hope so” Anna took Shannon’s hand and pressed it closer against her.

Anna worked in a small town for some years. She wasn’t really used to do all the large cities that had far more criminals than Bossier City probably. Like she never had a case like that. The most dangerous had to do with a husband that killed his wife, along with his two children. But beyond all the cases she worked on had never been a psycho.

“Wait…” Jared narrowed his eyes a bit and reload the site again, just to make sure it was true. “The website is offline” he was astonished by the turn out.

First they were afraid for that poor girl’s life and now he turned the camera off. All of them were significant relieved especially after Lauren raised up her thumb as a sign that this was no late April fool’s joke.   
They were already about to open the champagne bottle when Brian made an appalling detection. He screamed everyone in the room to check the website again. No one had actually believed it but the murderer came back and changed a bit of the scenery. Instead of the bed she was placed now in a kind of pool, tied up and the camera now zoomed so close to her face that they finally could recognize her. 

“I thought the option drowned lost” Anna was confused.

“I think he changed his mind again. Sorry guys, I don’t want to watch it knowing I’m here and I fucking can’t help her” Shannon distanced himself from the group and placed himself on the window to look outside. 

It was frustrating for everyone just to sit in front of the computer and do absolutely nothing. They couldn’t track him down, neither on his call or the website. It was a game of cat and mouse and Shannon wasn’t quite sure what part they were playing in this game so far.

“He choose the burning alive” Jared answered, eyes still banned on the Laptop.

“You clearly see that she’s sitting in a pool” Anna ran with her fingers through the hair, kept walking up and down in the room.

“It’s a chemical burn he is using in this case” Brian cleared up “He never said that he will burn her with fire or be any clear about his homicides but highly concentrated caustic soda is having almost the same effect. As soon as the acidity comes in contract with the skin it looks like a severe burns. So our victim goes through unthinkable pain before she dies of a heart attack until the caustic soda does the rest. It can be used for the perfect crime. If you use the right concentration and throw it over someone’s body it just needs some time until it vanishes. But since he is mixing it up with water he protracts the torture. Like in other cases I don’t think there’s a personal connection between her and our man we’re looking for. I think this one is picked to cause our attention. Why shouldn’t he had called us or sending us the link?” Brian finished. 

Meanwhile the young girl had been in that pool for five minutes and it was just a matter of time until her heart would stop beating. Only Jared and Thomas kept watching execution while the others looked outside or tried to focus their mind rather on something else. Everyone had seen a death body, no matter how mutilated it was, but never watching a person die slowly while they were all gathered at the police station knowing he was somewhere out there. 

“She is dead” Jared said quietly, turned away and closed his Laptop. 

Just seconds later all lights turned on again, like all other electronic devices. And as it was intuition Jared turned to the monitor on the wall before he saw another message popping up.

‘I hope you liked my little freak show, especially one of you. But let me tell you one thing: If you decide to talk to the media you risk the life of someone from your so beloved team and I’m actually quite happy to have you all gathered back in our city of angels. Good Night.’

“Bastard” Lauren shook her head, still not realizing what she actually had seen for couple minutes before she started her research again. 

“We had found Rachel’s body two days ago, talked to the families yesterday and he already knows we are back. What if is he amongst them? What if Shannon and me talked already to the sick man?” Anna was stirred up.

“She’s right! He is watching us and know exactly every step we make. How does he know we returned? He knows Jared’s number. Normally when you call the LAPD you get one of the nice people from helping desk and actually they don’t get you through unless you prove that it’s quite important” Shannon looked to Anna that started shivering on her whole body and decided to wrap his arms tightly around her to pull her body closer to him.

“Then you better don’t fucking waste your time, Mr. Leto, and ask them” Thomas already opened the door before he heard Anna talking again.

“I’m dealing with the press now!”

“No” Thomas screamed.

“Why not? Are you actually scared by that message? He is trying to dominate us since the minute he turned off all the electricity. All other building weren’t involved. That man concentrated only on the LAPD, asking us to obey him and play with his rules. If I talk to the media I can apply to the people to help us in our investigation. Maybe there’s someone that had seen the car on those three nights. Maybe someone does recognize him. You maybe scare the rest of your team, but you surely don’t turn me down. I’m from the country, I know how to deal with people like you” she left the office.

Anna went to her office, opened the white pages and dialed a few numbers to make that report tonight. Her best skill was improvisation and that might be a good help right now. She was sick of sitting around, twisting her thumbs while he looked already for his next victim. It was about time to turn things around, making it clear who had the balls in this game. 

Just a few hours later she was finally standing in front of the press, no matter if it was L.A. Times, KNBC or KLAC. They all turned up after Anna’s phone call, hungry for the headliner for the next day. 

“I’m happy you all could make it so fast. As you all know we are dealing right now with a psycho that now killed his 4th victim during an internet stream on his own website. Sadly we couldn’t track him down since he used a lot of firewalls that blocked us to enter his complicated system. That’s why we believe we are dealing with someone that has particular computer system skills, but that also seems a fan of Literature. We also found out that our murderer had been at the UCLA College about 8 years ago, like our first three victims. In addition to that we know that the man is driving a white van in all three nights. I will hand over everyone a print out later. That’s all. So we like to apply to the people in Los Angeles. If anyone had seen someone on that night, driving a white van or acting strangely to you, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We are quite sure that he might attack already pretty soon” Anna nodded smiling before she handed out everyone a copy of the white van before she went back in.

Brian, Lauren and Shannon were the only ones from the team that had followed the press conference while Jared and Thomas talked about further proceeds. 

“She is a really tough girl” Brian conceded. 

“I knew it. She is my sister” Lauren proudly added.

“I know. She’s something really special” Shannon whispered, his eyes followed every move before he decided to go back inside as well.


	5. Through the Eyes

It was 9am as the clock started to ring and interrupted the sleep of Lauren and Brian. Both had been sleeping only for some hours. Everyone from their squad left the building after midnight to discuss about today’s events. No one was happy how the day went but after all they couldn’t change it more anyway. Another women had died and they were still looking for a mysterious guy. 

“Oh babe, you’ve forgotten to turn off the alarm clock” Lauren mutters, crawling under her pillow and try to fall asleep once again. 

“I’m sorry. I just forgot that” he groaned, turned off the alarm and cuddled up to her from behind. “Good morning sweetheart, by the way” he placed a kiss on her cheek.

“Good morning” she turned around in his embrace and noticed the dark circles around his eyes as well. “Night was way too short to get in a good shape” she snuggled up to his chest and could call herself lucky to enjoy a day off in bed with Brian. 

“Indeed. I couldn’t stop thinking about last night to be honest. Her death was painful to watch and my minds likes to show it to me over and over again. I felt pretty useless standing there and watch someone dying.”

“Me too” she sighed in despair “I tried everything possible to turn down the website or just find a way to locate his damn position. He feels smart and probably laughs at us right now. I start to think we will never find him” she buried her face on his chest. 

“Babe, don’t say that! You are perfect in what you do and I’m positive that you’re going to find a way. One day he’s going to make a mistake and then we got him.”

“Are you sure about that?” she looked at him, not believing what he actually said “He seems a perfectionist in his doing and how many girls have to die before he finally makes that mistake as you say?” she continued in a grumpy way.

“We all make a mistake one day. I do that as well, even I hate to admit it. And when he makes the mistake you catch him” Brian winked at her, continues motivating her.

“That’s why I love you, Mr. Haner” she purred “You’re always supporting me and make me feel special in those moments” she got up to kiss him passionately. “You’re always there to support me and make me feel special” she grinned and nibbled on his earlobe. 

“Why don’t we just forget everything for a moment and just focus on planning our family” his right hand slide down to her thighs and pulled himself closer to her. 

“You really want to do that?” she beamed since she was waiting for that moment for so long already. 

“Why not? We’re a couple for so long and talked already about having children one day. Why don’t we start with the family planning now?” he placed a few kisses along her neck until he looked back to her.

Brian’s hand slide under her shirt, stroked over her back and pressed her gorgeous perfect body closer against him. He wanted to feel every inch of her soft skin on his own, taste it again and just forget everything around him again. Their sex life never had any problems, quite the contrary. They were active young people that enjoyed the pleasures of love but since a few weeks it got a bit less. Both blamed the stress of moving back to California, packing the boxes and hired a company to bring all their stuff to the west coast. But since they settled down a bit they tried to focus more on their relationship again and finally they were ready of becoming parents. 

“Someone seems to be really hungry today” she moaned quietly beneath his touch and took the initiative to push him back onto his back to place herself on his lap. 

Lauren liked her dominant side and loved to keep the chains in her hands. She loved to give him orders and control the sex. Maybe others would call her bossy but since Brian obeyed her she loved to play her naughty games with him.   
Slowly she took off the shirt before she bend down to kiss her man’s lips again while his hands were placed on her bum. 

“I want you” she whispered into his ear and was about to continue before she heard someone knocking on the door. 

She sit up and listened attentively again. Lauren wasn’t sure if someone knocked onto their door or someone was just playing one of those jokes again. 

“Did you hear that too?” she asked while her hand draw circles on his chest.

“Yes. Why don’t we just ignore it? Whether it’s one of those kids playing pranks on to other people in the morning or Mrs. Oliver who is looking for her kitty again” he said before someone knocked again. 

Lauren looked to the clock and knew that she had planned her shopping trip with Anna today but wasn’t sure about the time again. She would be interrupting to a really bad timing. So to make sure who was on the door she got up and saw Anna impatiently waiting outside.

“Oh it’s Anna darling” she turned around and looked at Brian that wasn’t really happy about the bad timing of Lauren’s friend. 

“Do you really have to go now? It was such a good moment” he muttered and put on his famous puppy eyes to make her change the mind again.

“I really can’t change it sweetheart, but I promise you” she crawled back to him “I make it up tonight. The night is ours and there’s no one that will interrupt us” she winked before she kissed him passionately again.

“I can’t wait for that” he smiled, gave her a slap and got up finally as well. “I’ll take a shower then.”

Lauren put on her shirt again before she rushed down the stairs and opened the door with a smile. 

“I just want to leave again. I hoped I wasn’t interrupting” she raised her eyebrow, hoping for good news.

Anna was really happy for her friend’s relationship and waited eagerly for any news like she would be pregnant or at least working on their family planning. 

“No” Lauren waved aside and wrapped her arms around her for a welcome hug. “Do you want some coffee? Something seems wrong. What happened?”

Now she had noticed Anna’s face. She wasn’t looking happy at all and seemed something bugged her. Everyone had to deal with the execution of last night but before they all left the office she still seemed calm and sure of her actions.

“If you have a big one, I take it. And yes something actually happened” she sighed and pulled out the newspaper she brought at the kiosk. “Read it.”

Lauren turned on the coffee machine before she sat next to her friend and started reading.

“I expected something to happen but I actually can’t believe that bullshit” she was shocked and disgusted at the same time. 

“I know! They tear everything apart and put everything in the wrong context” Anna answered annoyed. 

“Hi Anna” a manly voice came from behind and by turning around Anna saw a bright smiling Brian, only wrapped in a towel. “You don’t seem happy for your shopping tour.”

“Why don’t you read it and find out” Lauren ironically said, reaching him the newspaper. 

“A disaster at the Los Angeles Police Department. It seems likely that amateurs are working on the new case of finding the bloody knight that killed his 4th victim last night publicly available. The so called dream team failed and can’t even pin down any suspects. What happened to the team that solved crimes in no time?” Brian started reading the headliner before he turned to page three. “A team that was responsible for her colleague’s death three years ago failed another time in letting a young woman die. For ten minutes everyone saw a young nameless woman being burned alive. Just one hour after that live stream they made a press declaration telling to the media that the suspect drives a white van and even seems to have better hacking skills as the technically stuff at LAPD. A confidential source alerted us that the FBI is pressuring the LAPD directors but they block any help from the outside. Is this the end of the dream team? And how many women still have to die before they catch the bloody night?” he closed the newspaper and remained silent for a moment. 

“I had seen the headliner this morning when I was on my way to you guys” Anna started talking “Our pics are on the cover. I think you can imagine how the guy looked at me when he sold me one of the copies?”

“FBI is probably laughing at us, complaining about our skills since they are so much better” Brian continued and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s neck.

“And the newspaper is even wrong. They didn’t offer their help at all. I’ve got nothing from their support. I really want to see if they could hack a firewall that is double protected” she snorted in anger. 

“Calm down please” he swayed her in his arms “We’ll show them we can do our job right and kick some butts soon. Don’t lose the confidence in yourself, babe. But now there’s no time to complain. You guys have some fun together” he pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek. 

“Oh don’t wait … Don’t tell me I interrupted you in …” Anna covered her eyes in embarrassment. “You shouldn’t have opened the door really. We can do that another day really.”

“It’s all ok” she winked to Anna “I’m going to enjoy the time tonight with him” she kissed him one last time before she escaped from him the embracing. “I’m going to take a shower now and you’re being a good company to Anna.”

Lauren blew one last kiss to Brian before she ran upstairs to take a shower and dress something nice for her shopping trip with Anna.

“So tell me Anna, what are you thinking of the city of angels?” 

“It’s quite cool, but way different than all the towns in Louisiana. It’s so huge and I have seen more crazy people than I had ever seen in my life yet.”

“Venice Beach is full of those crazy performances, I know” Brian smirked. 

“But I’m even happier to have you guys close again. I was afraid that I would be all alone but when I’ve heard you would be working at the same case I looked pretty much forward to come to the sunny side of the states” she giggled and nodded at Bri when he handed her over the cup of coffee.

“She’s happy as well.”

“Do you mind if I ask you something”

“Ask right away. What bothers your heart?” 

“I just wondered one thing, but does Jared have something against me? He wasn’t the friendliest guy yet and he kind of ignores me and complains about my qualities” Anna was upset about the problems she had becoming part of the group. 

“I wondered about the same already. Basically he is the sweetest and friendliest person I’ve ever met but he seems a bit cold to you indeed. I can’t explain that myself either but why don’t you ask his brother Shannon? Who knows him better than the older brother himself? He can help you too” he answered with a smile, hoping that he could help her with his suggestion. 

“You’re right. I will do it” she raised her coffee and moaned delightful when the black hot liquid went down her throat. She really needed a cup of coffee and that one wouldn’t be really the last one.

~*~

While Anna and Lauren decided to enjoy their day off with a long shopping tour, the Leto brothers agreed to catch up at Bru Coffeebar. Jared kept checking the time every five minutes since his brother was already late. 

“Hey little brother” Shannon hesitated into the Coffeebar and was out of breath from all the running. 

“Where the hell were you? I’m waiting for more than 15 minutes” he snapped at his brother and finally both sat down at the table close to the window. 

“I got distracted with the hours actually but tell me what was so urgent for you to call me so fucking early? Normally I go to bed at 6am.”

“Yeah call it distracted” Jared rolled with eyes “I still think I’ve heard a voice close to you but that’s not the subject” Jared sipped on his coffee “I’ve got a call from Thomas telling me about the latest headliner in almost every Los Angeles newspaper.”

“I know. I’ve seen it and few people talked to me already” Shannon ordered a coffee before he continued “Let me guess. FBI called him, saying he can’t do his job right and now he starts to blame us for that. No wait, he blames only me” he crossed his arms on his chest but tried not to ruin his mood over a guy he can’t stand.

“He did say that but I don’t agree with him. My opinion is that the new girl has all the fault.”

“What? Anna? Are you kidding me?” Shannon got a little aggressive and hit the right hand onto the table in front of him. 

“You’ve got me right, brother. The press conference was scheduled way too early. We all look unprofessional and ridiculous now. And most of all she all puts us in risk. You’ve read with your own eyes what the killer had send us. If we talk to the media he will attack one of us. So I don’t want anyone’s life in risk because of that girl made a huge mistake. We’re all responsible for one person’s action and now they make fun of us. Do you think anyone will take us serious?”

“She just tried to alert the people in Los Angeles and to fright the guy that we talk in public about him” Shannon started to protect her of any accusation until he got interrupted by Jared again.

“Shannon are you thinking? Frightening that guy?! She will provoke far more deaths now! He won’t stop and since the media pays now attention to him we precisely give him what he wants: attention. We are the idiots, not him” Jared looked around and noticed that every single person was already staring at them since both started screaming. “I don’t trust that girl” he said now quiet and a bit calmer again. 

“Why don’t you trust her? What has she even done to you? You don’t even know her” Shannon couldn’t accept that his brother had such a bad view about such wonderful loving girl.

“That’s what I actually would like to know from you. Why are you defending her? Brother, she’s not Hanna right? Hanna is dead and this girl is the complete contraire of her. Hanna wouldn’t do such thing. She cares for the lives of her colleagues.”

“Anna does the same, but can you actually stop comparing them?” he muttered against his hand while his eyes were fixed to the people outside. 

“I should stop comparing them? You are the one that sees Hanna in her!” Jared kept talking to him but noticed that his brother turned away his face and avoided any eye contact. “Please just don’t tell me you already felt in love with her? Shannon she’s dangerous. What if something happens to you because of her? She’s not Hanna.”

“I need to go. I just forgot about an appointment” Shannon got up from the chair and didn’t hesitate to get out of the Coffeebar as quickly as he could. 

“Shannon Leto, don’t even think on falling in love” Jared got up as well and screamed through the whole bar, trying to change his brother’s mind but failed. 

But when he saw that Shannon got into his car to drove off he placed himself on the chair again. 

“Here’s the coffee your friend ordered, Sir” a female voice said, placing the cup of coffee carefully on the wooden table. 

“He’s not my friend. He’s my brother that makes probably the hugest mistake in his life” Jared massaged his temples before he looked up to the girl’s face. 

“Shall I take the coffee back?” she seemed confused.

“No. I take it. Add your number as well, darling” he winked at her and reached her a piece of paper.

~*~

Two and a half hours had passed since Anna and Lauren went to see some wedding gowns. They had seen a lot of dresses in different colors, forms and fabric but none of them was the perfect one for Lauren’s wedding. Her mood dropped and she already started to believe she wouldn’t find a good one for the wedding that would take place in some months.   
So they went in their 5th shop for today at the 933 N La Cienega Blvd in West Hollywood. While Lauren still tried her second dress already Anna was waiting on the white couch, drinking champagne. It wouldn’t be a real girl’s ay without drinking glasses of alcohol. It cheered up the mood and maybe helped a little bit in picking the right dress.

“What do you think of this one?” Lauren finally came out in a ball gown, V-neck and straps. 

“Wow! Really I love that dress” Anna was surprised and was almost crying at the thought that she finally would get married. “You look gorgeous. Take it!”

“No! I don’t like it at all” Lauren turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. She was frustrated that nothing fitted to her images in her head. She knew how the perfect dress would look like but it was nowhere. “How will I dance with this heavy dress?” she sat down next to her friend “I can’t even sit properly” she moaned annoyed.

“Have you ever thought on using two dresses? You can wear one for the ceremony and change yourself for the reception” Anna handed her over a glass of champagne.

“No I don’t want that! I want one single dress that represents me you know. This one is gorgeous and I might look pretty in it but it’s not me. I’m not in love. Let’s say the chemistry doesn’t work” she giggled at her comment before she sipped all the sparkling water down her throat. “Will I ever find that dress I’m waiting for so long?”

“Of course you will. Don’t lose all the strength after the 5th shop. Los Angeles seems to have tons of those and you will find it” she looked at Laurens face that got even a bit sadder now. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone won’t get the chance to see me in all that” she dropped her head on her friends shoulder.

“I know you miss your mum but I’m sure she’s currently watching at you from above. She’s proud that you’re going to marry the man you love. Believe me” she tried to hug her but the dress wasn’t arranged for a lot of movements. 

“See that’s why the dress doesn’t fit to me. I’m not even able to hug people. So how will I hug him when we’re going to dance?!” 

“Ok let’s see if I still remember your taste” Anna jumped up her feet “What do you think of this one?”

“I don’t like that shape. I actually like this ball gown but in lighter fabric. It’s a summers day and I don’t want to faint because of all the heavy dress” she joked. “But why don’t you use it for your own wedding? I know you fancy Shannon and I’m not stupid but you come always to the same time since the second day. What happened?”

“Nothing” she shook her head “There’s nothing between me and him really. I was actually going to a hotel and when he found out he didn’t let me go. Actually he told me he would bring me to the closest hotel, so I wouldn’t have a long way back to work but he brought me to his own apartment. He told me about his second bedroom and that I wouldn’t pay for the hotel since I could stay at his place as long as I want, plus I would have a good company.”

“That man is really charming I know” Lauren giggled amused “What happened next?”

“Next?” Well he showed me everything and helped me with my bags. After that we opened a bottle of good wine and spent hours talking with each other. I found out he’s from the same town as me and we hear the same music, which is pretty cool. Then we went to bed, not together in one dear. Not like you probably imagine right now.”

“Imagine? Sorry but where is the girl I’ve met years ago? You aren’t close to an angel. That’s all. But yesterday had been interesting” Lauren winked at her friend “You had been pretty close.”

“Close? You misunderstood things I guess” she coughed “When we come home, we didn’t even noticed that we weren’t actually sleepy since everything still bothered us. So we stayed up until late, cleared one wine bottle and watched a good movie together. It’s harmless as you see. I’m not so lucky in relationships as you, Lauren.”

Lauren kissed her forehead before she disappeared in the dressing room with one dress.

“It took a long time until I found that man actually. I wasn’t lucky either” Lauren said loudly before she started to take off the one and try on the new one.

“He’s a sweet guy but that’s all. Since my last relationship I still have trusting issues in men. You know what happened and it doesn’t mean I don’t trust him but it’s still a very bad feeling that follows me. He kissed my forehead. That’s all what happened when he went to bed” she sighed out and heard the zipper before her friend appeared again from the cabin. 

“I think I’ve found it” she turned around and felt pretty happy.

It was a long sleeveless laced ball gown that gave her a lot of space to move around, dance or even hug her friend. 

“Let’s celebrate it! Where’s the champagne?” Anna picked the bottle, filled up the glasses until Lauren’s mobile phone started to ring. 

“Hi Brian. You call in the right moment but no you won’t get any information before the final day” she giggled.

“Good for you babe, but it’s not the reason I’m calling. I think I’m closer to our killer. I’ve found an interesting information.”


End file.
